Prison Service and the Private Sector (Hansard, 26 February 2002)

§ Lord Rooker

We have today placed a report of a review which my right honourable friend the former Home Secretary (Jack Straw) asked Patrick Carter, a non-executive member of the Strategy Board for Correctional Services, to carry out on the future role of the private sector in the prison system.

We believe that a mixed economy of provision is essential in achieving a modern, dynamic Prison Service.

We are grateful to Patrick Carter for his report, which shows how much the private sector has achieved to date in providing high quality prison services at lower cost. The report also shows how well the public sector prison service has responded to the challenge of private sector competition.

Both the public and the private sectors are important to the future of the Prision Service. Both can show big successes that benefit prisoners and the public. We want to create conditions in which both can flourish but in which both have to continually prove themselves. We believe the overall thrust of the recommendations of the report will achieve this. Some can be implemented straightaway but others need further work or will have to be subject to discussions in the current spending review and our wider vision for modernising the Prison Service.

The proposal that under-performing prisons should he required to show how they will meet tough benchmarked standards or face contracting out or closure offers the potential for big improvements in performance and value for money.

£000
Resources	Capital
Change	New DEL	Of Which voted	Non-voted	Change	New DEL	Of Which voted	Non-voted
6,362	436,276	426,276	10,000	2,319	23,968	23,968	—

The Crown Prosecution Service's DEL will be increased by £8,286,000, from £414,893,000 to £423,179.000, and the administration costs limit will be increased by £7,267,000, from £296,974,000 to £304,241.000. The increase in the resource element of the DEL arises from speeding up the reform of the CPS to allow it to contribute fully to criminal justice targets, implementation of extended court sitting hours and the provision of resources for the CPS prosecutor recovered assets training project. The decrease in DEL arises from the transfer of £120,000 to the Home Office in respect of the CPS's contribution to CJIU. The change in the capital element of the DEL arises from the take up of £2,000,000 of end year flexibility entitlement and a transfer of resources from the Home Office to support the video recording of police interviews. The decrease in capital arises from the return to the Home Office of £150,000 of Capital Modernisation Fund resources.

HM Procurator General and Treasury Solicitor's Department DEL will be decreased by £105,000, from

226WA

The report also provides a welcome contribution to finding ways of bringing the ageing prison estate into the 21st century. We will consider this as part of our current assessment of the options for providing a range of carefully targeted new approaches to dealing with offenders and the spending review.

We note the recommendation for a limited programme of market testing. For the moment. we believe the performance testing process we have announced offers a better, faster and cheaper means of improvement. But we do not rule out using market testing again in the future.

The private sector has demonstrated that it can make a valuable contribution to the delivery of a high quality service by prisons. This report outlines a way ahead for their continued involvement.